In general this invention relates to a holding apparatus and method for use in easily mounting and holding a plurality of very thin samples, preferably of semiconductor material, to be coated in a stacked relationship, whereby preselected opposite surfaces of the samples can be coated while in a stable orientation.
The coating of extremely thin and small samples with coating substances is quite often a tedious and time consuming task. For example, it is desirable to coat preselected opposite portions of extremely thin uncoated segments of such samples, wherein the uncoated segments have dimensions in the order of about 0.250 inches .times. 0.004 inches without having to remove the samples from a holding device.
One known approach for coating small and extremely thin samples is described generally in U.S. Pat. No. 4,385,083; wherein there is disclosed a relatively complicated screw-loaded mechanism for holding a single sample to be coated. Such a mechanical arrangement has many obvious shortcomings especially when more than a single sample is to be coated. If several samples are to be coated at a single time, what is normally required is that an operator using tweezers or the like, mounts the samples in a stacked, side-by-side and parallel relationship across a coating recess or area formed in a sample holder. It will be appreciated that such stacking is arduous and the resulting stack is relatively unstable. Of course, this instability enhances the likelihood of the stack collapsing when encountering even slight vibrations. Additionally, it is not uncommon for the samples to fall through a coating recess or area, such samples are supposed to bridge. The cumulative effect of such a procedure is an unnecessary lengthy loading time.